Verismo
by Pinguicha
Summary: Post Eternal Wings. About Political intrigue, pride, blind judgment and love gone sour. Lyude has been running from his past for so long... it's now come back to him.


**A/N: First and foremost, before you begin reading this, be wary that it's sort of old. Just something I wrote after playing BK:EW and it's been on my computer for long, so what the heck, I've decided to post it. Hopefully, you'll enjoy and review. If not... Review anyway, okay?**

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_My wings are shadow, my heart blight. _

_For all the blame I shouldered, more has been wrought upon me. Mercilessly, they wear me down; submissive, I let them, wondering when they'll finally throw me into the chasm of death._

_I cannot resist, for the hunger which gnaws at my spirit grows, eating away my senses; clouding my sanity; ripping off my mind; basking on my flaws because you're gone to make them meaningless._

_I am left weakened, frozen, forgotten, forsaken as I wait for you, my love, to bathe me in the sweet pain of your kisses, the healing salve to my body and antidote to my death. For you are all, the life-farmer and the death-cropper, the light-bringer and the darkness-chaser._

_Despair grips me; madness ensnares me. And I can do nothing but wait for you to come back; I am powerless to fight; I am powerless to hope. All I have left is want and need, for you to come back to me and make me see the brightness of the stars instead of the overpowering mantle of the night. I want you to come back and hold me so that I can only feel the warmth of your body and not the chilling air; I want you to come back and make the blatant ugliness of the world fade to a mere speck and make the small beauty of it come out of its hiding place._

_I wait, my love, until the day we're reunited and no more shall I thirst for the liquid heaven that is your love! From you, I shall eagerly drink all until I wither no more even if that which you press to my dry lips is the damnation of my soul and poison to my heart! Without you, there is no peace and forever I will suffer lest I see you again and are finally relieved of this dark hold which has sunk its teeth and claws into me, making me bleed until all life blood has fled my body and I'm reduced to naught but a withered shell._

_My love… I hurt. I ache. I weep. I wait._

_My wings are the shadow of the world, my heart the blight of the land. I beg you to have mercy and come back… Come back and end it. Come back to me and have your light burn away the darkness and scorch the disease. Come back and love me. Come back and free me. Come back and kill me. _

_My love… Only you who are the venom which I crave, the lust which consumes me can come back and cease this bitter taint of the world._

_I am powerless. I am weak. I am chained. I can only wait._

_The crystal glass in my hand trembles; through it I see the gloom of the clouds as day surrenders to the night. It is bleak; it is saddening. _

_As tears fall down my cheeks and the darkness descends, I wait._

_I wait… I wait… _

— _**Magnus containing the diary of one of the Children of Light**_

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**Prologue **

Lyude sat morosely on the stairs outside Anuenue's shop, half covered by darkness. People were dancing a few metres away from him, the sound of their chortling reaching his tired ears. He lowered his head and stared at the ground, a strange uneasiness coming out of nowhere.

"_It's such a happy song… too bad these times are not like it." _A calm, collected, almost nearly indifferent voice echoed within his head, causing his eyelids to slid shut in unpleasantness. Why did her voice still haunt him, after two long years? He should've forgotten about her, already and not being constantly reminded of her by nearly everything he saw. True, while he'd been travelling with Kalas and the others, he'd somewhat forgotten about her, but now that everything was over, thoughts of her emerged.

A sigh escaped his lips and he found out that he'd been staring at the ground for at least five minutes. He looked up at the dancing people once again, to find them still in the same happy, careless rhythm, almost as if they belonged to another world. He briefly closed his eyes, got up and looked around, away from the dancers. Calmly, he climbed down the small stairs and skirted the cheerful crowd as his eyes scanned what surrounded him. He really should be thinking about a way of helping his nation, instead of nothing…

"I don't know what's going to happen, Your Highness." He heard a familiar voice saying and turned to its direction, "The Empire was severely crippled; we have no Generals, no Emperor, no one to lead us."

"I'm sure you'll manage." Queen Corellia stated, her tone slightly comforting. "You've kept all the survivors together… This should be no more than a small setback. Plus…" Queen Corellia turned to Lyude, "I believe one of our saviours might be more than willing to help you, Lady Marline."

The woman spun round, gasping softly when she found his figure, standing in front of her. Lyude bowed politely to the Queen. "I'd be most grateful if I could lend my assistance to the recovery of the Empire."

The Queen smiled once again. "Lady Marline, this is-"

Marline held up a slightly trembling hand. "We've already met, Your Highness."

"Oh. I'll leave you, then. Lady Marline. Lyude." She nodded to each of them before leaving, and uneasy, heavy silence replacing her presence.

Marline broke it, unsure. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Lyude?" She said, her timid eyes looking at the ground.

"Indeed it has." He replied, in his usual polite manner. She was… different from the way he remembered her; not the calm and collected girl who'd do anything to please her parents, but a worn out, sadness filled young woman, whose once pure black, serene eyes seemed now to be dim, troubled, unfocused and with a slightly darkened skin under them. She also looked thinner and paler than two years ago, when he'd seen her the last, but not one least less beautiful; at least not to his eyes.

"I've told you before that it's rude to gawp at people, Lyude." She murmured shyly, still bearing the same attempt at a smile.

"I know. I'm sorry." Lyude apologized ruefully, taking a hand to the back of his head.

"Still polite." She stated, now with a tone that could nearly be considered amused.

"Still barely smiling." He shot back, her cheeks reddening at his remark.

"I haven't had… much time to practise it." She stuttered, her small fingers entwining together, "Nor any reasons to."

"Don't say that, Marline." Said Lyude, gently.

The woman shook her head, wisps of dark hair waving around her face. "It was… so hard, Lyude." Her voice quivered, and her eyes shone, unshed tears welling up in them. "You came back and… I felt it. After two years, you returned to Mintaka and I could not go to you." Marline paused, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "You travelled with the same light that shone in that dark place, Lyude. I saw it and… when your siblings called the guards to arrest you." She made a sound from the back of her throat, between a sob and a cry. "I was so scared that they were going to kill you." She parted her thin lips and breathed in. "The guards were coming to get you and… I had to delay them. They found out, of course, but I did not care; you were safe."

So _that_ had been why they had escaped. Lyude opened his mouth to speak, but she didn't allow him. "The second time you returned… I was trying to hold the survivors together. I could not help you, I could not warn you of the dark spot amidst the very same light your group brought. And when the light grew dim and I could no longer feel your presence-" Marline sniffed hard, running a hand across her small nose. "I cried so hard when I felt you vanish from this world… It was worse than anything I'd ever been through." She suddenly looked up, and he Lyude could see she was, indeed, crying. "But when you came back, I was… so happy."

He lifted her chin with his hand, gingerly. Marline bit into her lower lip, to regain the tight control she always kept. "I told you once, Marline," he murmured, "that I do not like seeing you cry."

The corners of her mouth curved upwards. "Then I'm thankful you've never seen me in these past two years. It was practically all I did."

"Nonsense, Marline." He wiped her tears with the back of his other hand. "You're stronger than that."

She laughed before taking the hand he had on her cheek in one of her own and kissing it lightly. "I missed you, you know? I tried not to think about you ever since you left. I did my best to focus on my own path and on obeying that snivelling brother of yours, but… I couldn't… get you out."

His fingers were tingling at where she'd touched them. "I tried getting you out, too. And, for a moment, I thought I'd been able to. But then I ended up in this celebration and you found your way back into my mind."

"I'd never thought that in two years I'd have my life turned upside down five times over." She sighed loudly. "I am afraid I must leave now." She set her eyes on the dancing people. "Happy songs are meant to be played in nights such as this." She smiled at him, a smile that didn't reach her shadowed eyes. "I guess we'll see each other soon, Lyude. We need help in rebuilding." She spun round, but he caught hold of her hand.

"Marline?"

She turned her head to one side. "Yes, Lyude?"

"We will."


End file.
